As the owner of Peak Dynamics and a couple of other ventures, I work with several staff and contractors and they are scattered across the United States and the globe. Because of that I need to not only trust that I have the right team in place and I also need to trust that they will do the tasks assigned them.

Believe me there have been a few missteps, but for the most part I have found the ideal candidates to fill the necessary niches within my business. Once I have them in place and they are trained (hint, hire people who have the skills sets that you seek and you can train them to do the nitty-gritty that is unique to your organization), but you need to learn to trust your employees. Here are my tips for doing just that:

Offer them the training they need to do the job to the best of their abilities.

Set specific expectations and reasonable goals.

Make certain the employee knows they can come to you if they need assistance — rather than attempting to figure something out on their own to a greater detriment. That being said…

Look for employees who show initiative.

Make sure they know you appreciate what they do and have frequent check ins. This is especially true with a remote workforce — keep in touch.

Beyond training…

You own or manage a small business… (a business under 500 employees in the US), and things are just not the way you would like them to be.

You might find that your employees are not as motivated as you would like, or maybe they don’t take the pride in their work you and your customers expect.

Maybe time is short and there never seems to be enough hours in a day or days in a month.

You might find yourself putting out “fires” that seem to spring back into flames almost as soon as you put them out.

or….

Maybe things are just the same as they have been for while…, little growth, little excitement, the team.., you, are tired and would love to regain the energy and momentum you once had.

You may even be considering attending a “training” program, or bringing in a consultant to help you through this “barrier” to your future.

The fact is… few if any extremely successful business people ever did it alone. They all had mentors, guides, trainers, who empowered them to think differently, who helped them keep their perspective fresh, who identified the “barriers” that held them back and provided them a “plan” through to the future.

Training as we commonly think of it is a great start, but it is also lacking in the long term elements required to not only acquire an excellent plan, but to put it into action, watch it grow, and then nurture and sustain that growth and excitement for a very long time.

The phenomenon I identified above as a “barrier” is also called the “Glass Ceiling”. The glass ceiling describes the characteristics of the barrier, it helps us to understand it’s nature.

First, there’s the “glass”. It’s transparent, not seen, invisible to the normal processes of observation you now have in place. Though you can’t see it, it is a barrier all the same. Once you come in contact, you just can’t seem to get to the other side… and you don’t know why. You may think you know… maybe not enough time to do it right, or, not the right employee…, but if you really knew, confidently knew, you would fix it. The reason you don’t move forward is you have doubts. And the reason you have doubts is you absolutely don’t see the obstacle that is holding you back and that can be very scary.

To excel at the highest levels we need a support system specifically designed to identify, enhance, empower, and indefinitely sustain our abilities and teach us to identify our weaknesses, then create the systems to turn the weaknesses to strengths.

Once this is initiated, developed, and maintained, the potential for increase becomes literally limitless.